[Histopathological analysis of sentinel lymph node in breast cancer. The experience of Institut Gustave-Roussy]

The development of the sentinel node concept has led to the selective excision of this node as an alternative to complete axillary dissection. When the sentinel node is negative, axillary dissection can be avoided. Accurate assessment of the sentinel node is an crucial part of the technique, but there is currently no consensus regarding the method of analysis. The localization of the sentinel node, the intra-operative analysis, the pathological analysis and immunohistochemistry are reviewed. An increase in the number of micrometastases detected in the sentinel node has led to the modification of the pN in the pTNM classification in 2003. In the future, the selection of patients in whom axillary dissection must be performed could be improved by identifying predictive factors for axillary involvement.